Many persons who are disabled obtain necessary mobility by using a wheelchair. Often the disabled person is elderly, a child, or otherwise unable to propel and guide the wheelchair without aid. In these instances another person usually pushes and guides the wheelchair. The attendant who pushes the wheelchair usually needs both hands to accomplish the task and must pay close attention to the speed and direction of the wheelchair to insure safe operation. In many cases the attendant must also care for a child in addition to the occupant of the wheelchair. If the child can not walk independently, the attendant finds it inconvenient, if not impossible, to manage the transportation of both the child and the wheelchair occupant. This often occurs where a parent of two children, one of whom requires a wheelchair, must take the other child along. In this instance the attendant would like to be able to transport both children in a manner which is safe and which minimizes interaction between the children.
Devices are disclosed in the prior art which have the purpose of providing auxiliary seats for wheelchairs. Examples are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,779,883 and 4,711,489. Other devices are disclosed which have the purpose of providing auxiliary seats for strollers, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,657,269 and 3,998,490, or for bicycles, U.S. Pat. No. 3,873,127. While these devices are suitable for the uses for which they are intended, each of them has limitations which make it unsuitable or impossible to use as an auxiliary child's seat for a wheelchair when it is desirable to mount the auxiliary seat in a position which minimizes the inconvenience to the wheelchair occupant and also minimizes the interaction between the wheelchair occupant and the occupant of the child's seat. The prior art devices also do not teach how a detachable child's seat may be provided for a wheelchair to safely and comfortably carry a child larger than an infant. In addition, the prior art devices can not be installed or removed from the wheelchair without the use of tools, thus adding the inconvenience of obtaining the proper tools whenever one wishes to install or remove the seat.